


The Runt of the Litter

by BryanRDowling



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-06
Updated: 2014-04-06
Packaged: 2018-01-18 11:05:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1426183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BryanRDowling/pseuds/BryanRDowling





	The Runt of the Litter

He had always felt like the runt of the litter, Tricky did. He was the youngest and weakest of three--born a pipsqueak and stayed a pipsqueak. His brothers were superior in every way--bodies of Adonis and minds that have lead them to the deepest reaches of their galaxy. But what makes everything worse is his memory problem--the not-remembering-anything-from-any-point-in-your-life-ever, memory problem. He wasn't born this way; a near-fatal accident stole his memories. And if it weren't for this accident he would still remember he was human... This is where things get tricky. 

He was never an android, and his brothers knew that, but they convinced him he was one. He had prostheses--man-made eyes and an electronic-sounding voice enabler that couldn’t be explained away coming back from a total loss of memory. So what better to convince him of, his brothers thought, than to tell him he's an android? All of their memories together were lost, and Tricky really had no idea who they were. He only knew what he was told, and since the voices matched up and the accident couldn’t be explained to him, what could they do? It was too painful a thought to tell him the truth and make him live a life of questions--the repercussions of their actions won't outweigh the quality of life they can guarantee him once they convince him he's something great. And that's what they believed. 

Gregor and Bram continued the daily grind of what it meant to be resource salvagers in the depths of space. They hardly ever found anything--they were in the middle of fucking nowhere--but somehow they always met their quota. How? Well they had all the time in the world. In comparison to the rest of the world and the infinity of space, their quota and salvage really were nothing, because the supply was never-ending. Boredom, however. Boredom is a different story.

Oh Tricky, Tricky never got bored. He was an android and all of his brothers were jealous of the fact that his mind met depths only he could comprehend. His electronics and biology were nothing they could understand and somehow those “components” allowed him a mind that never got bored and never wondered. Only worked. And that’s what made his mind so deep; there were things trapped in there that would never come out; desires that would never be fulfilled and should have been fulfilled. His mind wanted him to want these things and crave what the world had to offer but couldn’t- because he was an android--a never-bored. The curiosity of his mind left him that day. That is, until one very, very special man came along with one very, very special girl.

“Tricky get over here! I need to you to scan the worth of this haul!” his behemoth of a brother, Bram, shouted. He groaned with discontent, having already heard the buzzer go off that signaled a new piece of salvage was rayed in. “I’m not an idiot, I heard the buzzer go off.”

His brother grinned a stupid half-smile, “Yeah, that’s what you always say.”

Tricky evil-eyed him, but he had a job to do. He scanned the screen with his exponentially capable eyes. “It’s worthless,” he said. “Nothing here but a bunch of space rocks and useless metal. Good work.”

“Aye, don’t pitch an attitude with me,” his brother grunted, “We hate this as much as you do.”

“Yeah, yeah” Tricky said as he trailed off to his bed, not saying the things out loud that would possibly be a death sentence. He grabbed the top bunk and pulled himself up in one good go, landing with the conciseness that only an android could. A feat no other man would dare to top, surely. 

“You’re not impressing anyone you know,” Gregor, the second largest brother, said from the bottom bunk.

“Yeah well maybe I’m not trying to. Or maybe you just want to...” Tricky started, a grin stretching across one cheek.

“Want to what?” His brother peered.

“Be me.”

“Oh please!” he chuckled. “Be you? Coming from the sub-human freak. Or did you forget you're only useful when you scan garbage, again?”

Tricky's eyes scanned his brother up and down and smiled. "Like I said earlier--worthless." He placed his hands behind his head and closed his eyes.

“Oh that's it!” Gregor shouted getting up from the lower bunk, grabbing his little brother by the shirt and pulling him down. He let his back crash to the ground and ignored his agonizing shout of pain. A brawl ensued--and no, the robot didn't win. Bram, the largest one, heard the shouting soon after the fight began and rushed over to break it up. “You two stop it right now!” his voice boomed, tracing and bouncing from wall to wall. He took Gregor by the shirt and threw him off the top of his little brother with even more ease than Bram had with Tricky. He tossed the trash a good space and then looked at the little one on the ground, writhing in pain from the beating. Tricky groaned--his voice ached and shook, even more painful for Bram to hear with the electric tremor added to it.

“I thought you said I was an android!” he cried after touching his blood-drenched face, which he realized after touching it that it was drenched in blood.

“You are,” his brother said, comforting him, “androids bleed too. It's what makes them so human.”

“But then why couldn’t I get him off of me?!" He yelled, making a pitiful attempt to push his biggest brother away.

“You've just been working all day and haven’t been to bed--your circuitry is all worn out is all.” 

Gregor came charging back but stopped when he saw the result of his pounding. He stood back, still in a heat that drafted an embarrassing quiver in his voice. “You best remember who you’re talking to." He walked away and began his laps around the ship, required when any brother needed a cool down after a fight.

“Le’s get you patched up,” he said brandishing a smile at his brother; he always had to be the strongest one.

He carried him to the med-bay and cleaned all of the blood off, having to put the majority of stitches and bandages on his face. 

“We’ll have to put on the InstaHeal tomorrow when we get back home. But for now, we have to resort to these barbaric forms of nursing.” He went to pick his brother up and carry him to his bed. Instead, he was met with a small yet stronger push against his chest.

“Let me do this on my own,” Tricky demanded, stepping off the examining table. He made his way back to his bed, but before he got too far, he looked back at his brother and smiled--something rarely seen from an android. “Thanks,” he said. Bram smiled slightly too, admiring his brother's rebel behavior and stubborn independence. Sure, when he's beaten to a bloody pulp he knows it's okay to accept help, but as soon as it's wiped away he doesn't need Bram anymore. And when it comes down to it, that's fine. He didn't care. He’d always be there for his brother, no matter what it took. Even now--even now when he doesn't remember a thing.


End file.
